Barcelona says Xavi Hernandez will not return as coach next season

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says coach Xavi Hernandez is leaving the club at the end of the season.

The Spanish club made the announcement Friday after a meeting between club president Joan Laporta, Xavi and several other senior figures at the team's training ground.

The club said Laporta “has informed Xavi Hernández that he will not be continuing as first team coach in the 2024-25 season.”

Xavi's last game in charge will be Sunday's away game against Sevilla on the final day of the league season.

His departure comes a month after Xavi had reversed a previous decision made in January to leave the club this summer. In April, the 44-year-old Xavi said that he had changed his mind after his players showed him that they believed in the team’s potential and had improved their performances.

But Laporta had reportedly been displeased by Xavi’s recent comments in a news conference that Barcelona’s poor financial situation would make it nearly impossible to compete against Real Madrid and Europe’s other top clubs.

The former midfielder led Barcelona to the Spanish league title last year but the team is eight points behind already crowned champion Madrid going into the last round.

As a player, Xavi left Barcelona in 2015 after helping the club win 25 titles, including four Champions Leagues and eight Spanish leagues in 17 seasons while forming a formidable trio with Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. He was also key to Spain’s streak of titles when it won the 2010 World Cup and European Championships in 2008 and 2012.

Laporta brought Xavi back from his only prior coaching job in Qatar in November 2021 to lead his rebuilding project of a club that had just lost Messi amid a financial crisis.

The following summer the club to sold off future television revenues and other club assets, which Laporta dubbed financial “levers,” to sign Robert Lewandowski and other players. Xavi was able to win the club's first titles since Messi's departure and the future looked bright.

This season, however, Barcelona lost all three ‘clasico’ matches against Madrid and was thumped twice by upstart Catalan rival Girona, losing both of their league matchups 4-2. It also lost in the quarterfinals of both the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.

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